It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #41 · 8:07pm Dec 29th, 2021
For our final week of 2021 and of the new authors push, I've decided on a theme that summarizes from the old fable of the scorpion and the frog: "It's in my nature."
The starting piece is Logarithmicon's Resolution of a Queen.
Queen Chrysalis has been unfrozen from stone to confront a problem with the reformed changelings: a mysterious illness is sweeping through them, and it's hoped that the deposed Queen knows the cure. She does - but it's not quite what Starlight had hoped for.
This story's a great devil's deal - Chrysalis has no problem laying hard truths on Starlight, and the solution to the problem is... rough. It's a good story that way with a lot of tension and interplay... but the real star of this one? It's the conversations between Chrysalis and Spike. They're not a common conversation pairing, and here they really shine: finding their similar grounds, talking about the inherent nature of changeling and dragon - and how ponies react to that.
Next up is Wax Earplugs by ReedHorse.
Sunset Shimmer's evening is interrupted by a text from Adagio Dazzle demanding information. Normally something she'd ignore, aside from a separate, one word text afterwards.
Please.
It's enough to draw Sunset into the siren's lair.
There, the two have a long talk - about the sirens and their attempts to adapt to human life, about 'friendship', and a fair bit of flirting. The primary problem: Adagio is still a siren and she keeps thinking like one. She is not good at being a human. It's sweet, frustrating, and hilarious at the same time. 'Dagi is just so bad at this.
And finally, we have heponas with the wonderful Secret Agent, Codename "Smarty Pants".
While a bit different in the 'it's my nature' than the others, there is still truth to it: Twilight Sparkle is gonna Twilight Sparkle. So when the new ruler of the griffons shows up, little filly Twilight and her faithful Smarty Pants are bound to investigate just what he's up to and what his plan is. After all, he looks identical to the bad guy in Con Mane #14: The Spy Who Saddled Me. So he must be a bad guy! And she has to save the day!
This is pitch-perfect comedy-drama as an adorable Twilight ruins Princess Celestia's careful web of diplomatic negotiations and almost starts a war. There's not a ton more to say beyond that, really. Twilight is a cute little gremlin, Princess Celestia is long-suffering as she tries to fix things, and King Dolimar is a proper griffin jerk.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
Hey, thanks for the mention! I do find it interesting how despite not being part of the original plan for this story, Spike's conversations with her ended up becoming the 'heart' of Resolution.